Shroff – Dry Masala Sampler: White Sandal, Red Sandal
The Dry Masala Sampler, compiled by Padma Store, currently sold out, costs €15.95 (in March 2022) for 2 incense sticks of each of the 12 varieties available at the time. Now there are 17.
White Sandal is not far from Mysore Sandal in terms of scent. I find its scent drier, leaner, but slightly sweeter in comparison. I also smell something like nutmeg. Additionally, there seems to be a hint of something floral in it. White Sandal has a sandalwood sweetness, but mixed with the floral note that I cannot separate from it. At the same time, I smell something spicy and very slightly sour.
I find its smell friendly, light, and bright. Padma Store describes it as “subtle”, which I find quite fitting, but not in terms of the strength of the scent, but in terms of its character.
The more time I spend with White Sandal, the more complex its scent seems to me.
I like Mysore Sandal a bit better; I prefer its warmth and slightly rounder body. But like with them, my rating of White Sandal has increased with each entry to my notes.
At the moment, it is 3.4.
In addition to the Padma Store sample, I received two sticks from Steve Pereira and so, I was able to compare batches:
His sticks have no green, but a red end, and the bamboo is additionally dyed yellow. There is also a slight difference in scent: His seem a bit sweeter and even drier, and have less of the nutmeg-like scent. Steve seems to have ordered from Padma shortly after me, so this should be the current version available at Padma Store.
Red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus) is not related to genuine sandalwood (Santalum album). For several years now, red sandalwood has also been protected by CITES, which is why other Pterocarpus species and other red woods now appear on the market, advertised as “red sandalwood”. I have even seen wood chips that look dyed, so be cautious when purchasing this raw material.
It is hard to say to what extent Red Sandal actually contains red sandalwood. The real wood has a pleasant, sweet, but reserved scent. These incense sticks are clearly a composition of several aromatic substances, which smell much more intense than red sandalwood alone.
Warm, spicy-sweet, and musky are the main impressions I get from Red Sandal. It is a robust, multi-faceted scent with a lot of volume. As with some other Shroff Dry Masalas, I smell a hint of the “ironed fabric” scent, which I believe to be saffron. In this composition, I find the note particularly interesting, and it doesn’t overly stand out. It blends with the robust and likewise soft musk scent.
Another facet is a sharp note, which is united with the sweetness and creates a metallic impression; an iron-like note. Between these two aspects, there is a lot of woody, spicy warmth and sweetness, which at times also has a hint of florality.
Red Sandal is an entirely successful, complex composition, and again I find that my rating increases with each burn. 3.2